CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Nazem Kadri scored an unsassisted goal 3:56 into overtime to lead the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.
Kadri took the puck up ice on a 3-on-1 and fired a shot into the far corner past Linus Ullmark just seconds after Jakob Markstrom stopped David Pastrnak at the other end.
“I was exhausted by the end of that one, just an absolute track meet,” Kadri said. “Nice to come out on the proper side of that one. Marky made some great saves for us. Gave us the opportunity to go cash in.”
Oliver Kylington and Martin Pospisil also scored for Calgary. Markstrom made 32 saves for the Flames, who have won two in a row on the heels of a three-game losing skid.
Kadri leads the Flames with 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists), just six shy of his production last year, his first with Calgary.
“He’s one of those guys that hates to lose more than he likes to win,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska. “So that’s why I think you see him elevate his play.”
Charlie Coyle scored both goals for Boston, which extended its road point streak to 11 games (7-0-4).
“We had chances to end the game. That’s hockey. It’s an inch or two there and it’s a different story and we’re feeling great about our game,” Coyle said.
Ullmark stopped 27 shots.
“We didn’t come out the way we wanted to,” he said. “We knew what needed to be done to be successful out there and we showed that in the second and the third and we battled back and stuck with it and got a point out of it.”
The Bruins trailed 2-1 after two periods but took just 2:33 to tie it in the third when Coyle raced past a flat-footed MacKenzie Weegar and swooped in alone on Markstrom to score on a backhand-to-forehand move.
Kylington opened the scoring at 12:55 of the first when he scored for the second straight game, taking a pass from Andrei Kuzmenko and whipping a shot under Ullmark’s arm.
Coyle tied it at 18:41, capitalizing on a blunder by Markstrom. After racing out of his net to clear a puck, he whiffed on it and Coyle fired in his 19th goal of the season.
But 42 seconds later, Calgary retook the lead on Pospisil’s goal. Kadri and Connor Zary combined to get the puck in front, but after Ullmark made the initial stop, Pospisil was there to poke the loose puck in.
Boston carried the play in the second period outshooting Calgary 11-5, but neither team could score with both goaltenders making big stops.
Markstrom’s 211th career win moves him past Tommy Salo into second place for most wins by a Swedish-born goaltender, with Henrik Lundqvist atop the list at 459.
“He’s the backbone,” said Kadri. “That’s what all great teams have, they have a guy in the crease that can make some timely saves and to win a championship, to win playoff games, to win playoff series, you need timely saves and you need timely goals and we saw both those tonight.”
After a stretch of sustained pressure, Kuzmenko got a good look from the top of the faceoff circle, but Ullmark made a glove save.
Shortly after, and with the Bruins on the power play, Pavel Zacha was stopped twice in succession, first on his deflection of Charlie McAvoy’s point shot, then on the rebound.
With defenseman Matt Grzelcyk out with a foot injury, Boston inserted veteran defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk into the lineup and called up Ian Mitchell from the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins.
UP NEXT
Bruins: At the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
Flames: At the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
